


The World Behind The Mirrors

by dillonmania



Category: DCU (Comics), The Flash (Comics)
Genre: Coping, Depression, Despair, Gen, Self-Harm, Substance Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-07
Updated: 2016-12-07
Packaged: 2018-09-01 02:03:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8602936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dillonmania/pseuds/dillonmania
Summary: Evan's caught the attention of someone important.





	

**Author's Note:**

> It was the similarities between the mirrorverse and Despair's realm which gave me the idea for this fic, and [I'd already done one story about a Rogue and a member of the Endless](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5223842). It seemed natural to do another.
> 
> As a warning, this fic depicts some self-injury (something Despair canonically does often), and references deaths and drug/alcohol use.

Their realms are connected, yet not the same. Evan’s looks out all over the world, while Despair’s sees only into the mirrors of people at their lowest points. And yet this man has always held special interest for her, akin as they are. She feels some small satisfaction -- never joy -- when he enters the mirrorverse and unknowingly opens himself to her. In there, she's invisible to him but always watching. 

He’d killed a boy from the orphanage and later done the same to his parents, and the pain from this is always with him, even when he tries to blunt it with drugs or alcohol. And he’s spread so much despair himself, having killed and maimed countless strangers for money or sometimes just for kicks. All of this makes him special to her, more so than many of the other mortals who belong in her realm.

“Sweet Evan....” she murmurs as he steps into the mirrorverse to case a bank for an upcoming job. “Never satisfied with what you have, are you? Always wanting more, even when it hurts you.”

He peers through a mirror facing the bank vault to study the layout of the area, but has no idea that somebody’s watching him. 

“Do you remember that security guard you killed last week?” she continues. “His family is exquisitely distraught because he was the sole breadwinner in the household....he wasn’t a particularly good man, but was the only provider they had. His wife has no idea how to make ends meet, and has cried herself to sleep every night since his death. She’s one of mine now, perhaps forever.”

Evan turns his head to look behind him, suddenly half-convinced that someone’s in the mirrorverse with him. But it’s as silent and coldly still as always. He’s well aware that few people know about the place, and those that do steer clear because of the risk of getting lost, and he shakes his head. Cocaine makes him paranoid sometimes, so maybe he should cut back on his intake for a bit; it’s a delicate balance to ease his troubled mind without overdoing it.

Despair strokes one of her rats as she watches him. Her beloved twin Desire works hand in hand with her on so many of her people, making them crave mind-altering substances to numb their pain. She isn’t sure whether she likes that, but Desire is kind to her and mortals will always do what they will. It’s enough to watch people mope over their empty bottles and addictions, for that always causes them more anguish.

She calmly slashes the hook of her ring across her cheek, and smiles at the welling blood because it makes her feel alive. Evan will undoubtedly meet with disappointment on the job, whether it’s because the Flash stops him or he doesn’t get as much money as he’d hoped for, or maybe he’ll even be high and foul it up. He regularly sets himself up for failure with his own greedy expectations, and it only increases his dissatisfaction and self-hatred. This song of grief is magnificent to her and the reason for her existence, and she’ll never tire of him.

He gets up and prepares himself for the robbery, soon disappearing through the mirror to seek some ill-gotten cash and glory. And Despair watches and waits for his inevitable despondency. Her patience is legendary.

What Evan will never know, can never know, is that the longer he spends in their overlapping realms allows her to get her hook deeper into his soul. She’ll never let him go.


End file.
